Preschool Fire Safety Theme

Toy firetrucks that make sounds and firefighter hats to wear! A Preschool Fire Safety Theme includes those and so much more for your children's learning and safety. This theme page is filled with preschool lesson plans, activities and ideas for all the interest learning centers in your preschool classroom!

Let the Fire Safety Theme Planning Begin!

You can either scroll down through this page to see all of the preschool activities for your Preschool Fire Safety Theme or click the link below to go to specific preschool activity types you are looking for.

Block Center Ideas for Your Fire Safety Theme

Firestation Design

Provide small firetrucks, ambulances, firefighters people and other little people to the block center. Encourage the children to make buildings, houses, bridges for the trucks to drive over and under, ramps, etc. Encourage them to review any preschool fire safety rules you have discussed with them so far.

Circle Time Activities for Your Preschool Fire Safety Theme

Circle Time is such a great time for children to learn the social skills of being together as a large group AND to learn more about your Preschool Fire Safety Theme!

Where Do We See Fire?

Materials Needed: Pictures of different types of fires: Campfires, candles- including birthday candles, fire place, rockets, house fire, forest fire, etc.; also bring a large piece of chart paper and a marker. Label the chart FIRE SAFETY

Ask the children to tell of some places where they have seen fire. Show them the pictures you have brought. Ask them how each of these fires would be started. Explain that some fires are used for heat or for fun things and some are more dangerous.

Lead the children in a discussion of fire safety. Ask what they know about how to stay safe from fire. List all of their ideas on the chart.

What Doesn't Belong

Materials: A variety of toys and a book of matches, a lighter

Place out several toys and the book of matches. Ask the children which item does not belong? Why?

Place out several more toys and the lighter. Ask the same question and discuss.

Discuss what to do when they see matches or lighters (get an adult to move them to a safe place).

Fire Drill

Most regulations require a monthly fire drill as part of a preschool fire safety program. Even if your program does not require, please practice them monthly anyway. You do not want a group of panicked children (or teachers) if an emergency should arise.

Do not ALWAYS practice a fire drill at circle time. Change it up. Don't prepare the children for it after they have practiced for a few months. Fires never warn us, they just happen. I KNOW children are afraid of loud noises and a drill can create much anxiety. However, the more you practice, the easier it becomes for all children.

After practicing for 2 months, make note of who has an overly anxious time with the drills. Be sure that one teacher is assigned to hold that child's hand every time there is a drill. An overly anxious child is typically the one who will run and hide when an actual fire happens. Do NOT avoid drills because of the anxiety, they need to be prepared as we all do.

Typically, I start out the year talking about a fire drill. What would we do if there was a fire in our building? (We need to leave the building). Right, we need to leave TOGETHER and let the Fire Fighters come and do their job.

What is their job? Right, it is to put out the fire and let us know if it is safe to be in the school again.

If there was a fire, how would be know? Right, we would here the fire alarm, or smell the smoke or see flames.

Do you know where we would go to be safe if there was a fire? Let me show you. (Walk to the door or window and point to your safety spot). We would all WALK together to that spot and wait for the firefighters (at our school, it was a tree across from the parking lot). Let's take a walk over to the spot and check it out! There is NO fire and the fire fighters are NOT coming, we're just going to check out our safety spot (we called it our Fire Tree).

When you return back into the classroom, tell the children that we'll be practicing fire drills more at another time.

The next time you have a drill:

Last time we talked about fire safety in school, we said that if we had to leave the building, we would hear the fire alarm and all WALK to our safety spot together. Who remembers where our safety spot is? RIGHT! GREAT memory!

We are going to practice walking to the safety spot. We are going to pretend that we have to leave the building for a fire, but don't worry, we are only pretending...there is not a fire.

Here is a fire alarm. I'm going to press this button so that you can hear what it sounds like. It's a little loud! You can cover your ears if you want to. (I usually press the test button on the fire alarm from across the room so it is not so loud near their ears).

Once it is done, talk with the kids about the sound. Then tell them you are going to pretend that was a real fire alarm and then all of you walk to the safety spot outside.

REMINDERS:

Please do not avoid drills in the winter or bad weather, remember-fires don't care what the weather is!

Be sure that your emergency contact information and attendance forms are in a consistent place each day so that you can take it with you on the drill. You need to know that ALL the children are out safely, who was in attendance today (trust me, in a real emergency, you won't necessarily remember who is out due to the adrenaline of getting the children out safely. You may remember how many children, but not necessarily which children are out).

9 1 1

Although we don't want the children to go home and call the emergency 9-1-1 number, they do need to know what it is. If you have 9-1-1 in your area, practice this with toy telephones with the children at circle time.

Send a letter home to families to let them know what you are practicing and asking them to reinforce that it is important to only call if there is no adult around during a REAL emergency.

Flannel Story

Materials Needed: Find a coloring book that has firefighters and their clothing and equipment on it (or search for this online). Color and cut out each piece. Laminate each piece. Hot glue a piece of dryer fabric sheet or felt to the back of each piece.

Use the pieces to discuss firefighters.

Place this in the library area for the children to make up stories with.

Finger Plays

Ten Brave Firefighters

Ten brave firefighters sleeping in a row (one hand in fist)

Ding, ding goes the bell (pull a pretend cord or ring a pretend bell with other hand)

And down the pole they go (pretend your hands are sliding down a pole)

Over to the fire engine--go, go, go (have your arms make running movements)

When the fires is out, they go back slow (make driving motion with hands)

Snack Recipe Ideas to Cook Up for Your Preschool Fire Safety Theme!

Cooking with children helps develop their math skills and helps them to learn how to follow directions. It also allows for some great conversation! Ask many questions while cooking with your children to encourage conversation! Be sure to ask specific preschool fire safety themed questions while making these fun snacks!

Fire Fighters!

You KNEW this was coming, right?!! Place the obvious out: large toy firetrucks, fire hats, vests. Also, cut the large foam swimming noodle toys in half and use them for hoses (you may need to sit with the kids to show them how they should use these...any hitting each other with them results in that child losing the right to put out the fires!). You may be able to find a pop-up fire engine as well!

Add boxes with the tops and bottoms cut out and then cut out oval shapes near the tops of the 2 long sides of the boxes. The children can then pull the box up to their waists and be IN a fire truck! These are fun to decorate as well with lights, paint ladders and wheels on them, etc.!

Preschool Fire Safety Theme Ideas for Your Easel--

More Than Just Painting (Although that is always THE favorite in our classroom!)

Charcoal Pictures

Preschool Fire Safety Theme Large Group Games To Help Build Your Preschoolers' Muscles While They Have Fun Together!

Obstacle Course

Set up a firefighter obstacle course using whatever items you have:

Tape to walk on; chairs to crawl under; balance beams; hula hoops to jump in and out of, etc.

Smoke Rises, so CRAWL!

Materials: Parachute or large sheet

Discuss smoke with the children. Smoke rises--goes up-- and is very thick and makes it very difficult to breathe. So, when we see smoke, we should get on our bellies and stay low to the ground so we don't breathe it in when there is a fire.

With the help of another adult, hold the sheet or parachute and gently shake it. Tell the children it is the pretend smoke and they need to crawl under!

Stop, Drop and Roll

Materials: Pieces of red, yellow and orange felt cut into the shapes of flames.

Explain to the children that if there was ever fire on their clothing, they should:

1. Stop Moving

2. Drop to the Ground.

3. Roll on the ground, covering their faces, on the part of the body that has fire.

Place a felt flame on your own sleeve and demonstrate.

Now ask a child to place a felt flame on YOUR back. Say "Oh no, there is fire on my back! What should I do boys and girls?"

They will say stop, drop and roll, hopefully, or you can encourage that! And then--be sure to stop, drop and roll!

Most children will want to try this once you have demonstrated a few times!

Fire House

Materials: In a large play area or outside, use riding toys for fire engines and the fire chief's car.

Provide dress up clothes such as pants, boots and hats and a bell to ring.

The children pretend to go to a fire.

You could also set up a pretend sleep area for the children and they can practice a fire alarm, leaving the area and waiting for their firefighters to come and put out the fire.

Paint Bags

In advance, place a few teaspoons of red paint and a few teaspoons of yellow paint in several baggies, without mixing the paint.

Seal the bags and then tape them shut so that no paint can leak out.

Place these baggies in the Science area for the children to experiment with. As they mix with their hands, they'll make orange!

VARIATION: I have also taped the edges of the baggies to the table so that the children only use their finger tips to press on the baggies, print their names, etc.

EXTENSION: Add other colors for the children to mix and become color scientists with!

Discovery Bottles

Materials: Using clear, 1 liter, plastic bottles, place some theme related or theme colored items such as red, yellow, orange and black crayon shavings. Fill 3/4 of the way with water. Hot glue the cover on and let the kids shake away!

Writing Activity Ideas For Your Preschool Fire Safety Theme!

Stencils

Miscellaneous Activities for Your Preschool Fire Safety Theme!

Preschool Fire Safety HOMEWORK!

Create a Home Preschool Fire Safety Checklist for the children to bring home and work on with their families. Ours has usually had the following items on them that needed to be filled out and returned:

I know two ways to leave my house in an emergency (leave 2 lines for them to list the 2 ways)

Our family safety spot/meeting place is:

We have tested the batteries in our smoke alarms and C02 alarms.

The local emergency number is posted near all of our telephones. The number is:

When the children return these, ask each child to tell you the 2 ways to get out of the house and where their family meeting place is. (Help them to remember!) Give a big round of applause for each child!

We would then put a smiley face on their homework papers and send them home for the families to keep.

Some ideas for visitors:

Invite a firefighter to come to class and see the firefighter put on his gear piece by piece.

Invite the local fire department to send a truck to your program (having cookies and juice for them when they come is a nice treat for them!)